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League of Legends Tribunal System is a Good Thing

Jeffrey Lin Riot lead game designer of social systems, had a few things to say when it came to the elimination of “toxic” behavior in League of Legends.

“Our team found that if you classified online citizens from negative to positive, the vast majority of negative behavior (which ranges from trash talk to non-extreme but still generally offensive language) did not originate from the persistently negative online citizens; in fact, 87 percent of online toxicity came from the neutral and positive citizens just having a bad day here or there,”

Lin also went on about the Tribunal System that seems to be working so far

“These cases were public, so players could see and discuss the behaviors, and the results were inspiring,” Lin said. “The vast majority of online citizens were against hate speech of all kinds; in fact, in North America, homophobic slurs were the most rejected phrases in the English language. It turns out that people just need a voice, a way to enact change.”

Lin also gives some numbers when talking about how much positive traction was gained from the tribunal system and allowing players to discuss things openly.

“As a result of these governance systems changing online cultural norms, incidences of homophobia, sexism and racism in League of Legends have fallen to a combined 2 percent of all games,” Lin said. “Verbal abuse has dropped by more than 40 percent, and 91.6 percent of negative players change their act and never commit another offense after just one reported penalty. These results have inspired us, because we realize that this isn’t an impossible problem after all.”

Lin also talks about responsibility being on the shoulders of all of us to make gaming a better place.

“Is it our responsibility to make online society a better place? Of course it is, for all of us. It is our society. As we collaborate with those outside of games, we are realizing that the concepts we’re using in games can apply in any online context. We are at a pivotal point in the timeline of online platforms and societies, and it is time to make a difference.”

Right now this system seems to be working in the short term and hopefully in the long run it will remain successful and give people a peaceful place to play League of Legends.